Taipei moves higher on travel destination charts

Staff writer, with CNA

Sun, Jul 21, 2013 - Page 3

The Taipei City Government on Friday hailed the selection of the city by a travel Web site as the 13th-best travel destination in Asia, vowing to make travel to Taipei more convenient through better integration of online resources.

Compared with last year’s results, Taipei has moved up six places in the Asian category of the Travelers’ Choice Destinations awards, presented by Tripadvisor in May, to recognize 412 destinations in 38 markets across the globe.

“You can eat very well — and very cheaply — in Taipei,” the Web site said. “The restaurants may not look posh, but the quality of the food is superlative.”

Chao Hsin-ping (趙心屏), commissioner of the city’s Department of Information and Tourism, said the awards also reflect the close partnership between Tripadvisor and the government Web site that promotes local travel.

The interconnection services provided by Tripadvisor contributed to over 10 million visits from 2.23 million individuals to taipeitravel.net last year, Chao noted.

The department will provide more up-to-date and in-depth itineraries for tourists on the Web site, as well as enhance its social networking functions so people can share their trip experiences more easily with friends.

Meanwhile, a one-month drive in Singapore to promote tourism in Taiwan has been launched at the city-state’s largest MRT station.

As from Wednesday, advertisements to promote Taiwan’s colorful activities and attractions, such as the New Year fireworks show at Taipei 101, the Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival, numerous bike trails and cherry blossoms, appeared at the Dohby Ghaut MRT station.

A Taiwanese tourism official hopes the campaign, built around the slogan “Time for Taiwan,” will attract tourists even before a large travel fair organized by the National Association of Travel Agents Singapore opens next month.